I was getting antsy the other day, I had to do something with myself. I can't stand sitting around doing nothing, I have to be moving. I remembered that I had a lot of pasta sheets leftover, from our Italian Pasta Night Party, that my daughter made. I had it stored in the freezer, was going to make ravioli, because I already had the ricotta, I just got busy with other things around the house. So, I got moving in the kitchen making the ravioli and lots of it!
I love ravioli, put anything between two pasta sheets and make a pillow out of it and I am in! Sauce it with a variety of things and I am all over it. It takes only a few minutes for it to cook, and you have a delicious, comforting meal. Check out the recipe for the pasta posted on this blog 6/18/14.
Recipe below for the Ricotta Filling.
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I pulled together my ricotta filling first.
Ricotta Cheese Filling
2 lb. container Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese, you could also use part skim milk ricotta
4 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated mixed Italian cheese blend
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Ricotta in the bowl, then the eggs.
Add the cheeses, parsley, salt and pepper and stir to combine.
On to the pasta - Lightly dust a large surface with flour, I used a large cutting board. Lay out two similar sized sheets of pasta dough, mine were around the length to make three ravioli out of them.
Place 1 tablespoon of ricotta mixture spaced evenly onto the bottom sheet of pasta, lightly dab around the cheese with a little water to help with sealing them. Then place the top sheet of pasta on top. Use a big ravioli cutter to press into shape, or you can cut them by hand.
I lined baking sheets with parchment paper and dusted them lightly with flour so the ravioli doesn't stick.
I have two ravioli cutters so I made big and small ravioli. Use a smaller amount of cheese filling with a smaller ravioli cutter.
Perfect little pillows of pasta and cheese! I froze my ravioli in single layers on the sheets because I was not using them right away, then placed them in a resealable plastic bag. To cook them, bring a pot of salted water to a boil, toss them in, cook until they float to the top and they are done. Serve with your favorite sauce. A few of my favorite sauces are - red marinara, creamy alfredo, creamy mushroom, garlic and olive oil with herbs and pesto.
I served mine with my favorite store bought pesto from Costco. I do make fresh pesto, but basil season is gone and it's too expensive to buy it and make it from scratch. This pesto I think is the best on the market. Do not heat the pesto sauce, I take mine out of the fridge when I get my water going on the stove, to take the chill off of it. I scoop as much as I think I need into a bowl and let it sit at room temperature, it will also heat through once you top the ravioli with it.
Start a large pot of salted water on the stove, bring to a boil, drop in the ravioli, you will know when they are done because they float to the top of the water. Stir them gently as the are cooking so they don't stick.
Drain and top with sauce and you have delicious Homemade Ravioli with Pesto coming your way!
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